Oathbreakers Anonymous
by Scott Warren
A knockout fantasy from author of The Dragon’s Banker.
Pride comes before the fall. And when the great paladin Marluck of Kalash fell, he fell hard. Labeled an Oathbreaker and banished from the Temple of Fate, the once-champion had no idea why his goddess-given powers were stripped and his holy icon shattered. Only that a banished paladin can never return to the fold, and is doomed to eternal longing and misery.
Bereft of his powers and cast down from his once-lofty heights, Marluck is rescued by the Oathbreakers Guild where other fallen paladins like himself meet to share their woes of banishment and pine for better days. But when a stranger in the group whispers of four holy sites where other Oathbreakers found favor once more, Marluck is helpless to resist the siren song of renewed succor within the fold of his goddess. Together with three other members of the group—each with demons of their own—Marluck sets out on a do-or-die quest to unravel the mystery of his fall from grace, and discover what it means to be a champion.
SPFBOX – Our Reviews
John Mauro
“I shouldn’t have to tell you how much of a bad idea a party comprised of nothing but paladins is. What are you going to do if you come across a problem you can’t solve by smiting it? Or a flying enemy—or even a ranged enemy?”
Oathbreakers Anonymous is Scott Warren’s rambunctious Dungeons & Dragons-inspired adventure about paladins gone astray. The tale is told from the first-person perspective of Marluck of Kalash, a half-orc paladin in the service of Skein, the Goddess of Fate.
In the opening prologue, Marluck loses favor with his goddess for uncertain reasons. Without Skein’s blessings, Marluck also loses his raison d’être for paladinning. He joins an Alcoholics Anonymous-style support group called the Oathbreakers Guild, trying to come to grips with his situation and find a new calling in life.
Opportunity for redemption soon comes knocking in the form of a new quest to locate four holy sites. Marluck recruits a motley crew of ex-paladins from his Oathbreakers cadre, and the group soon sets off questing.
Oathbreakers Anonymous has a self-conscious feel that walks the line between serious epic fantasy and self-parody. The story is full of in-jokes for Dungeons & Dragons fans and an assortment of low-brow humor. While I found some of the jokes amusing, the comedic aspects of the book largely fell flat for me.
The other major problem I had with Oathbreakers Anonymous is that I never connected emotionally with the characters. We are given some of Marluck’s history, but we never learn enough about his companions, causing many of the side characters to feel interchangeable. It was also never believable to me that these characters are all former paladins.
Although I failed to connect with Oathbreakers Anonymous, fans of Dungeons & Dragons may wish to check it out, especially if you are in the mood for a more lighthearted adventure.
Catherine Catcho
“My name is Marluck of Kalash. I was a Mithril-Ranked paladin of Skein. It’s been nine months and four days since my last smite.”
Smirk worthy dialogue, indeed.
I really love when a book reads more conversational because it feels like a friend telling you about their crazy life. But when the MMC, Marluck, spills the tea (or whatever is on tap) & plot starts introducing side characters – I couldn’t stop my journalist side from asking- why?
In one sense, this story feels like the outline to a video game. And while I bet Warren voice feels naturally entertaining to a niche crowd, I hard time getting fully invested.
